


The Five Times Taxi saw Br'aad Doing Something Weird (and the One Time he Helped)

by ProcrastinatingAuthor



Series: JRWI Modern AU [1]
Category: Just Roll With It (Podcast)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Br'aad does some seemingly weird things around the city, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, References to s1e4 / s2e1, Second chapter will be angstier, Taxi runs a flower shop, Tube dog
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28035915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProcrastinatingAuthor/pseuds/ProcrastinatingAuthor
Summary: Taxi keeps seeing this mysterious blond around the Wharf.--My first time writing a 5+1!(Second chapter from Br'aad's perspective hopefully coming sometime next year)
Relationships: Taxi & Br'aad Vengolor
Series: JRWI Modern AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2053623
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	The Five Times Taxi saw Br'aad Doing Something Weird (and the One Time he Helped)

1\. Tube Dog

“Sylnan, look at all the stuffed tube dogs!”

Taxi wasn’t really paying attention to the people in the mall, their voices drowned out by his own anxious excitement about seeing his girlfriend. Still, somehow, the loud energetic voice from the pet store across from where he sat filtered through, distracting him from his thoughts.

“Up dogs, Sylnan, look! Live ones!”

Looking over, he searched for the voice. It wasn’t hard. They had their face and hands pressed into the glass, bouncing as they pointed with visible childlike glee. He could only see the back of their head - and the long blond hair covering it - but he could imagine the smile that must be plastered on their face. Taxi couldn’t help but be a little amused at their elation.  
Next to them was who Taxi assumed was this “Sylnan.” He had short dark hair and was dressed with much more care despite it being midday on a weekend. He seemed significantly less pleased, his arms crossed and face unamused at the other’s actions.

“And they have water dogs! Sylnan we have to get one.” That just elicited a sigh that Taxi could hear from where he sat. Clearly this wasn’t the first time Sylnan had heard such a plea.

Taxi was more confused by the blond’s strange affinity to call the animals in the store variations of dogs. Maybe they just liked dogs? They definitely seemed old enough to know the real names of animals. Not that Taxi could even begin to fathom what an “up dog” was.

“No, c’mon we should go,” Sylnan replied firmly.

Taxi watched as the blond’s shoulders dropped a fraction at his words, but lost track of them as they began to walk away. While strange, this interaction was quickly forgotten as Oriana arrived, being replaced by excitement for their date.

2\. The Restocking Song

Taxi was a morning person.

He enjoyed being able to watch the sun rise, the normal bustle of the city reduced to a familiar quiet that reminded him of the small town he grew up in. It also, of course, gave him the time to run errands before work.  
But he knew not everyone appreciated the morning like he did. So he was never fazed by the less than enthused responses of the employees of his local supermarket. He couldn’t blame them. It was a minimum wage retail job, most likely understaffed with unprepared management. And a seven am opening shift to top it all off. Needless to say, when he walked in that morning, as usual, he didn’t say anything. Instead he grabbed a cart and silently headed down the aisles.

That was probably why the singing caught him so off guard.

“Listen customer, I wrote this song for you,”  
Taxi guessed it was coming from the aisle across from him.  
“You have a-” The voice faltered, recovering after a quick pause. “You’re making a dinner and you need the food, let us supply it to you.”  
Taxi smiled. At least someone at the store seemed to be enjoying themself.

“We restock the shelves, keeping the place well, so you can find what you need. We aim to please, here at grocer’s expertise.” There was a moment of holding the last note before the singing stopped and Taxi heard a cart moving on.  
Poking his head out, he tried to spot who’d been singing. They were heading into the staff room but before the door closed, he managed to catch a glimpse of their blond hair.  
He was a little disappointed, while the song was a little odd, the singing was good.  
Shrugging it off he refocused on his list. He needed to pick up junk food for his and Velrisa’s upcoming movie night. It was his turn to host and even though neither was huge on sweets, he figured he should pick a few things up.

Moving on, he forgot all about the singing man from the store.

3\. The Crate

He was setting up shop when he saw the movement in his peripheral - A flash of blond hair disappearing in a fraction of a second. He paid no mind to it. It could’ve been anything.

It was moments later, after he’d turned back from grabbing something, that Taxi noticed a large wooden crate had appeared out of thin air a few feet to the left of his stand. It seemed normal enough, save for the fact it had not been there a moment prior. But they were close to port, so it was probably just some sort of merchandise that was being picked up.

The first time the crate moved he assumed he’d imagined it. It had just been closer to his stand than he remembered. There was no way a solid 35’’ crate - presumably full of goods - could just move.  
But when he came back from lunch and found it now right in front of his stand, Taxi knew something was up. This was no normal crate. He inconspicuously walked around it, finding a few holes in the walls.  
Taxi bit his lip, beginning to feel a little more apprehensive. Did the contents of the box need to breathe? Was there a _living being_ in that box? He really didn’t want to get wrapped up in any sort of illegal port activity…

Patting his pockets, Taxi walked away from the crate, keeping an eye on it as he pulled out his phone. He was debating calling Oriana. She was a cop, she might know something about this, or at least have insight on what to do.  
Before he could actually call though, the lid of the crate creaked open, a blond head peeking out. Taxi froze. The person…they almost seemed familiar…

The blond frantically looked around the street, eventually deciding whatever they were hiding from was gone and jumping from the crate. Taxi, too distracted by the literal person who just ran out of a crate - let alone the familiarity of said person- just watched as they darted off down the street, disappearing into a nearby alley.

Taxi did end up calling his girlfriend, at the very least to tell her about his strange morning. She listened to the details of what happened and said she’d take a look, but couldn’t offer any explanations. They chatted for a bit until she had to go, wishing him a good movie night before hanging up.  
Taxi did the only thing he could - Shake off the event and focus on his plans for the night. The Wharf was a weird city, that was all. He probably wouldn’t see the blond again anyways.

4\. Alley Camping

Everything was prepared for the movie night. They had a few bowls of popcorn and assorted foods on the coffee table, blankets and of course, refreshments. Taxi had picked up a small bottle of wine for himself and some ginger ale for Velrisa - soda was about as wild she would get with drinks, never caring much for alcohol.  
Taxi popped in their first movie of choice, Ghostbusters, and they settled in for a good night.

It took half way through movie three for Vel to fall asleep. Movie three was some sci-fi “classic” she’d heard about, but it didn’t interest Taxi much. Instead he watched the street outside, getting lost in his own thoughts.

He was lucky that his apartment was high enough to get a view of the horizon, but at night it was fairly bland. There was a good view of the alley across the street, one he tended to avoid looking down, perfectly aware of the crime around the Wharf. He’d rather not imagine what sorts of dealings had taken place in that deep dark alley.  
This time it was different, he could see some light coming from inside. Getting up from the couch - careful to not disturb Velrisa - he walked closer to the window.

With the light brightening up the area, Taxi could see a small set up indicating someone might be camping out in the alley. There was a sleeping bag next to some dirty papers and a small picnic basket. The source of the light turned out to be a small fire, hastily made a little ways away from the rest of the set up.

Taxi was about to call the fire department, when he spotted someone walking back towards the alley. He froze. It was the blond haired person from earlier. He was shocked, though after further pondering figured it made some sense. They were probably another homeless thief. The wharf did have issues with crime and unemployment.

He couldn’t help but stand watch, intrigued as the blond, who’d come back carrying a door of all things, began to break pieces off of it to place in the fire. Sitting on the sleeping bag, Taxi watched them begin to pull out ingredients out of the picnic basket.  
He spent upwards of ten minutes just watching this person attempt to cook some sort of sandwich they’d fashioned. By the end it looked black and charred but they seemed to eat it without complaint.  
As the fire began to die down, Taxi could see less and less of what was going on in the alley, the last thing he saw being the blond curling into the sleeping bag. Begrudgingly moving away from the window, Taxi headed back to his own couch, feeling conflicted and guilty.  
He assumed the blond was involved with the illegal dealings around the city. But he also hated to see them out in the cold like that.

Laying back on the couch, beginning to feel the exhaustion from the day mixing with the tipsy feeling from the alcohol, he began to feel his eyelids drooping, the melancholic thoughts dissipating as he drifted off.

5\. Washing Machines

It was a good month before Taxi encountered the blond again. A good month since anything overly strange had happened. And then the laundry room in his building went under renovation.  
He put off going to the laundromat for as long as possible. He had nothing against the place, but it had always had a weird vibe.

It always looked run down on the outside - with its dirty concrete walls - and pushed to a slightly sketchier area of the city. So when Taxi finally went in on a rainy Saturday afternoon, he should’ve expected the inside to be as drab as the exterior.  
The interior was a bland off white colour, from the walls to the machines themselves. There was an empty service desk in the back corner and a collection of old plastic chairs by the front.  
It wasn’t as busy as he would’ve first assumed, considering it was a weekend. Everyone who was there seemed disinterested and were silent, as if there was an unspoken rule about talking. The only noise was the whir of the old machines.

Feeling quite out of place, Taxi headed straight to a machine, quickly tossing in his clothes, fumbling with his change before taking a nearby seat. He regretted not bringing something to do as he waited, realizing now that the place was quite dull. Nobody seemed particularly friendly, so he elected to just stare out the window.

Then the blond came by. Long hair tied back for the first time, they walked in, small basket in hand, looking particularly less jovial than Taxi had ever seen them. They stormed over to the machine a few down from Taxi’s own, angrily throwing clothes in.

“Can you believe he doesn’t think I can handle it? I handle tons of things at home.” They mumbled as they entered.  
Taxi didn’t feel it was right to listen in to whatever rant the blond was about to start, but if he was honest, there wasn’t much else to do in the boring place and so if he just happened to hear it, because it was by no means loud in the laundromat, then he couldn’t really be blamed now could he?

"If I'm so unprepared, maybe I shouldn't be trusted doing the laundry? Wouldn't want me to mess that up too!" Spiking the last shirt into the machine, the blond angrily threw in a few unnamed detergent pods before dropping the lid, which slammed down with a loud thud. Reaching into their pockets they struggled a bit jamming quarters into the slot, only adding to their rising frustrations. Taxi was moments away from getting up to assist them, when it finally worked, the machine rumbling to life.

Huffing, the blond walked away, finding a seat a few down from Taxi. Taxi looked around awkwardly, feeling a need to talk to the stranger, whether to comfort them or just purely out of boredom. He turned slightly, opening his mouth, not completely sure what to say when his phone rang. It was the alarm for his laundry. Thirty minutes had passed.  
Somehow this blond stranger had distracted him for the entirety of the time needed. Strangely easily in fact...

Walking out of the laundromat, he was met with the fresh air. The bright colours outside were a stark contrast to the drab building he’d spent the last hour or so in. It brought a small smile to his face as he walked back to his apartment, taking in the nice surroundings and putting the situation - and the blond - behind him.

6\. Thru the window, to the wall

It was a sunny summer day, playgrounds filled with kids, everyone in the Wharf wanting to soak up the nice weather as much as possible since they so rarely had it.  
Taxi, for his part, had decided to walk up to the local farmer’s market. After an hour browsing the local produce, with arms full of fresh veggies and a loaf of bread, he began the journey back to his place. The market in question was by the local secondary school, so his way back involved navigating through one of the neighbourhoods.  
Taxi smiled, enjoying the peaceful morning. Green grass, flowers and trees in full bloom, kids yells as they played in the backyard, a pair of legs flailing out of an open window—

Taxi stopped in his tracks, confused and worried at the situation unfolding in front of him. He couldn’t really see much of the person - since they were halfway in a window - but, he could tell they were pale, wearing worn out jeans and cloth boots.

“Are you alright?” Taxi asked, walking hesitantly to the window.  
He heard a bang as the person presumably knocked their head. “Fine! Just, uh, lost my keys”  
The voice was muffled and stuttered, sounding a little caught off guard. It also gave Taxi a feeling of familiarity, though he couldn’t place when he would have heard it. Not completely convinced - and very confused - Taxi stayed a little longer, watching as the pair of legs began to squirm again, more clearly able to see that they were struggling to fit completely through it.  
After a few moments of struggle, they froze and a loud sigh was heard from inside. The body slumped, making more of a v shape as they sagged in the window sill.

“You still there?” The voice spoke, sounding defeated. “I might be in a bit of a _blind_.”  
The person chuckled weakly at their own joke, it not really doing much to relieve the strange situation.  
“Yeah, sure! Um, I’ll just-” Taxi moved closer, reaching out before hesitating at the last second. “Are you ready?”  
“Yep,”  
“Alright,” Taxi took a deep breath, finally grabbing onto the stranger’s legs, and began to pull.  
It took several minutes of maneuvering to get the blond out of the window sill, attributed mostly to the awkward positioning. But finally the stranger was able to almost gracefully slip out of the window.

Taxi thought that was the end of the story, but then he finally got a good look at the stranger. He froze. That blond hair. The voice, one that sounded eerily familiar. Not to mention the weird situation unfolding.  
Of course it was the mysterious person. The one he’d been seeing around for months.

“You have strong forearms, thank you for the help,” the blond said, reaching out his hand, “I’m Br’aad.”  
Taxi, still shocked, ignored the hand, instead blurting out, “You’re the person from the alley-from-from the grocery store. FROM THE CRATE!”  
The blond went silent, his friendly demeanor quickly changing to confusion.  
“Have you been watching me?”  
“Oh,” Taxi exclaimed, realizing how creepy he sounded, “No-Sorry. I-I’m Taxi,” He offered his hand. “I uh, moved to the wharf a few months back and have just seen you around. Not in like, a creepy way-just like, at the grocery store, and uh, at the laundromat.”  
“Uh, alright…?” Br’aad replied warily.  
There was a moment of awkward silence.  
“Do-do you need any more help? Getting into your house, I mean?”  
Br’aad looked back at the house with a shrug. “I had just forgotten my key, this is a friend’s house. I’ll just swing by my brother’s work to borrow his.”  
“Oh, does he work around here?”  
“No he does some, uh, freelance work in the city.”  
“Oh…Well I’m also heading back to the city, if you want some company?”  
Br’aad nodded, adjusting his scarf before picking a direction and heading off confidently.  
“That-That’s the wrong way-” Taxi cried, running after the man.

**Author's Note:**

> I HAVE FINALLY POSTED IT! I started this in September~ finished in October and finally got around to editing it now! Thank you SO MUCH to my Beta, who literally gave me so many editing comments on this one, plus helping me brainstorm ideas. Give them a hand for going thru that 3k~ mess of a draft.  
> This is hopefully going to be a wip series of fics in the same universe, that's the goal. I have three fics being written (albeit slowly) and one other that needs to be edited. So hopefully those can come out next year!  
> Thank you so much for reading, I hope y'all enjoyed this! I'm down to concrit, just pls be polite :D  
> Tumblr - @readingwriter92


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